Subtitle: Why do we need so much information, isn’t a name enough ?

In recent years, several states have moved to protect public files. It started when Court Judges began hearing arguments why certain files should be made “SEALED” from public view.  Then the States of North Carolina, New Mexico and Rhode Island made movement to block data on files such as social security numbers and other identifiers. Then the courts went to block “dates of birth” from criminal records.

The National Association of Professional Background Screeners, NAPBS, became involved and contacted the state governments to educate them on necessary factors.

When a person is arrested and processed by police various details are obtained. Name, address, date of birth, photograph, height, weight, sex, race, finger prints, drivers license number, social security number, etc. Some details are mandatory and others are contributory.  Example, the white pages, in the United States, has more than 12,000 listings for “John Smith”. When you contact the people at 411, you give them a name & address to help select the correct telephone number.

I wrote to the North Carolina Court system when a judge attempted to block all “dates of birth” on North Carolina criminal convictions. The North Carolina sex offender registry has 11 “John Smith” and 4 “Charles Jones”. As an employer, how would you determine if your applicant was one of the sex offenders ? There are 188 sex NC offenders that are 35 years old. What good are these facts without sufficient information to make a determination ?   

Aliases are used by criminals to try to hide their identity. In recent years, one of our Nursing home customers ran a social security number, SSN,  and found over 65 different names attached to the SSN. This SSN had been stolen and was being sold to illegal aliens for $500.

There is a legal term that lawyers use. It is called   “Time is of the essence. “  Definition: “A contract term that fixes the time of performance and establishes such time as being critical, so that failure to perform within such time will constitute a default.”.

The courts must recognize that an employer, in his due diligence pursuit to hire an applicant must keep to a time frame or the cost will exceed the income and put the employer out of business.

Does not compute. The credit bureaus will NOT release an employment credit report without all necessary fields being filled. (IE: Name, address, dob & ssn). Some states will NOT release a criminal record without a name, address and dob minimum entered. Some states will NOT release a driving record without the name, address, dob and drivers license number.    

 

Carl Slicer, blog editor, www.BestHire.com